The invention refers to a new train axle system with movable wheels which can be used in tracks of different gauges.
The present system is an additional development of the work carried out by the applicant in the field of the construction of rail vehicles with wheels that are movable to adjust to different track gauges. Thus, patent FR-A-1 558 329 describes a single axle bogie with a variable separation between the wheels which allows a solution to the problem of a bogie being used to travel on two different track gauges, for example that normally used in Spain and that normally used in France and other European countries.
Moreover, in EP-A-0 802 101 a train axle assembly is described which is provided with an automatic change of track gauge and which can be adapted to conventional bogies with a fixed distance between their wheels, so that a conventional rail vehicle, suitable for travelling on a single track gauge becomes capable, after fitting the said train axle assembly, of travelling on a different track gauge, for example passing from the Spanish rail network to the French network, and vice versa.
The system of the present invention has three versions and is made up basically of an axle whose necks, where the wheels are positioned, are provided with a toothing formed with straight teeth and whose generatrices extend in the axial direction.
The inner part of the wheel hub also has a similar toothing which will allow the rotating wheel to be joined to the axle when it occupies the two positions corresponding to the track gauges.
Axial blockage of the wheel is carried out by means of one or two locking bolts in a similar way to that used in the TALGO(copyright) system of movable independent wheels.